Frying Pan With Fire
by Moonraker One
Summary: In another universe, Taylor Hebert is Superwoman, having just led the forces of Earth to defeat Scion. But then a suicide attack sends her to another Earth, where her other self is a bug-powered supervillain. How will she cope? Will this Earth coexist with her brand of heroics?


**CHAPTER ONE**

"Holy Jesus, we did it…"

Armsmaster's voice trailed off as the rain began to pour on the battlefield. Buildings scorched by beams of intense raw power sizzled as the cold water dripped onto smoldering, charred stone and steel. A brilliant blue lightning bolt streaked across the evening sky, illuminating the wreckage and the strewn chunks of dirt. Several thousand people stood. Several million more lay in various chunks of flesh all around. An eerie silence hung over the countryside of central Russia, where a series of portals had allowed them to concentrate their strongest power into the heart of the world where the monster hid his central body. It lasted but a moment before every conceivable sound of revelry erupted, a volcanic blast of wonder and joy. "HOLY SHIT!" Colin shouted. "WE _DID IT!_"

Taylor Hebert took a deep breath. Her suit had been shredded in many places, and with the sun not up, her healing seemed glacially slow as blood dripped from scorch and cut wounds. "I think that's the first time I heard you swear," she said, rubbing her eyes. "And that's something, given that I have super-hearing." She laughed. He laughed and draped both arms around her.

Dragon shifted from the mostly-destroyed battle mech that had led the charge of the Dragonfleet against Scion, and into her typical humanoid body. "We wouldn't have been able to win without you, Superwoman," she said. "Your gambit paid off."

"Well," Taylor said, taking several deep breaths in disbelief herself, "it isn't every day that the Yangban is willing to let you use their power sharing on a _planetary scale_." Indeed, she thought, the gambit had been crazy. The C.U.I. hadn't initially wanted to play ball. They feared that attempting to modify Null's power to allow every parahuman on Earth to take part in the battle with her Kryptonian powers—alien powers not coming from a shard, mind—would permanently ruin their strategy. Ultimately, though, it was her sheer charisma along with her willingness to prostrate herself before them that convinced them. In exchange for several political favors, they'd agreed. The battle had been unbelievably intense. "Working with a fraction of my power was frightening, but I'm glad we did it."

"Everyone with a little bit of your powers was a better strategy than you with all your powers, in this case," Dragon noted.

"And because of this," Colin stated, "the C.U.I. and the P.R.T. will be working more closely from now on."

Taylor smiled as she surveyed the parahumans of various nationalities and origins hugging and greeting each other. Barriers were coming down. Could this be the lasting peace she'd strove for ever since she'd taken up the mantle of Superwoman? "I've longed for this day," Taylor said, wiping a bit of blood from her forehead before it dripped into her eye.

The P.R.T. medics came over and patched up Colin and Dragon escorted her damaged battle mechs to a ship leading to the repair stations. The rainstorm proceeded. Taylor flew up and above the storm. The remnants of the evening sun setting far off into the horizon caught her skin, and her cells drank up the fading solar radiation. Cuts scabbed over and then the scabs fell off revealing pink skin underneath. The spinning in her head from where Scion had blasted her in the temple, faded rapidly. The effects of Null's power had abated, meaning she had her full power once again. Still, her cells recharged, showing just how drained she had been. It was mere minutes after the worst battle she'd ever participated in, where millions had died and nations had been scorched, and she felt happy seeing the setting sun, nevertheless.

Alexandria set down on the ground just as Taylor landed. "I have to admit," she said, putting her hands on her ally's shoulders. "You took us all by surprise two years ago when you first came out as a hero, but holy hell did you come through!" She hugged her.

"Now _you_'_re_ on the potty mouth," Taylor joked, returning the hug. "We need to save the Earth more often."

In the crowd, a man stumbled through the reveling parahumans, a billiard ball-sized device in hand under his coat. Only he had seen the truth, shown to him by the Simurgh, and he would dispose of the threat before it caused any more damage. Sure, Scion had been a problem, but without competition, nothing would stop this alien monster from taking over. He had the wisdom, and foresight, and he had the tinker ability to defeat her once and for all.

"I have to…" Alexandria's words cut off mid-sentence as she laid eyes on the man in the tattered suit. "Watch out!"

Her shout came moments too late. Taylor spun around, with her mind not focused. She'd forgotten to use super speed in the excitement. "Lex?" she uttered. "But you're…" Her hearing picked up a click under his coat. Her eyes went wide. She activated super speed, and shoved Alexandria aside. In a blur, she wrapped her arms around him and flew upwards. "I thought you died in the battle where we beat Simurgh!"

"Too late," he uttered. They turned out to be his last words.

The device activated. Torrents of light blasted his body into chunks and gore in her arms. The bluish light blossomed into white and engulfed her body. The last thing she saw was a hole opening up and swallowing her as the sphere collapsed leaving only empty air behind.

"Taylor?" Armsmaster shouted. "TAYLOR!"

She wasn't around to hear his screams.

* * *

In a distant place, another person named Taylor Hebert walked solemnly and intently towards a destination. Her heart accelerated slightly at the thoughts of implications and future possibilities. None of them seemed good. The morning sky shone overhead as she strolled, her white tank top and running gear marking her non-costumed appearance. With each step she felt pulled, tensed between many points at once. She moved towards the P.R.T. headquarters, using her sensory powers to analyze the interior of the compound with the bugs she'd left behind last time she'd visited. Her breath caught heavily in her chest, she pushed through the oblivious exterior crowd and into the lobby. The doors parted, and she took that one final step past the point of no return, foot setting on tiled floor and into the unknown future. The crowd initially noticed nothing.

A lone P.R.T. officer looked up from his console at the front desk. His eyes trained on the young girl. A rush of adrenaline surged into his blood as his brain registered the girl as the target of the incident at Arcadia High. Thigh muscles propelled him to his feet and his hand rocketed towards his weapon as fast as he could reach. "Villain!" he shouted, his voice igniting a string of chaos and bedlam.

For a long, tense second, the crowd startled, then looked at him, and finally, to where he looked. Dozens of eyes registered the sight and fear took hold. The crowd reacted like shotgun pellets, scattering in many directions at once. Trained officers hurdled desks and pushed aside movable barriers to get to her side in record time. Rifles, pistols, and tasers, as well as a plethora of non-lethal tinkertech pointed at her body in seconds flat.

"Get down!" a P.R.T. agent in heavy body armor yelled, the end of a twelve-gauge pointed inches from his target's head.

No less than five parahumans, Miss Militia among them, stared in utter disbelief as the girl, known as the supervillain Skitter, conqueror of the city of Brockton Bay, dropped to a kneel and folded her hands behind her head. After a confusing barrage of mixed messages and conflicting orders, she made a gesture and the officers went silent. The girl raised her head and looked up at her. "I surrender," she uttered, flatly.

More chaotic noise from the officers ensued, then Miss Militia gestured to Clockblocker. "Hey!" he yelled, interrupting a violent boot pushing down on the girl. "I got this." After the noise died down, she looked up at him. "This is a trick."

"Yeah," she confessed. "But not the way you're thinking. Do you need me to take a different position?"

A half-hearted chuckle almost made it out of his mouth. "Once upon a time," he said, honestly, "I would've had something clever to say in response to that."

Her eyebrows lowered in confusion. "What?"

He shook his head. "Never mind," he said. "Kneel, with your arms behind you." He reached for her head.

Just then, a loud explosion rattled the windows and several vibrations shot through the lower floors of the building. Clockblocker jolted backwards. The chaos startled everyone. Miss Militia brought out a forty-five Desert Eagle. "What was that?" she shouted. "What is your plan? TELL ME!"

Taylor, to everyone's confusion, seemed just as startled. "I…I…fuck!" she shouted. "I don't know! I was going to surrender! Honest!"

"I will blow your head _clean off!_" Miss Militia repeated. "What is that?"

"HOW THE FUCK SHOULD I KNOW!" Taylor screamed. Her ragged breath made her shout jagged and rough. "I…I was just wanting to surrender…"

"Shackles! Now!" Miss Militia bellowed, her gun not moving. "You're gonna let us put these on you, and if you move, I swear I will paint the floor with your brains."

An officer in heavy armor brought out two reinforced titanium alloy arm restraint shackles. The huge halves bolted to each other over her hands and upper arms and weighed down. The officers kept their guns pointed as well. A set of leg shackles went on next.

Tagg came running. "What just happened!" he shouted. "What in…oh Christ…" His words trailed off as he saw the girl.

"Follow me," Miss Militia said to Taylor. "Anything goes wrong, if a mosquito so much as tickles me, you're dead."

She slowly marched outside almost ten guns pointed at her body and head. Parahumans from upstairs came down to join them. They walked across the stone parking lot, where a huge crater sat smoking at the end where several cars had been ejected out of the way, strewn in various positions across the lot. Bolts of lightning crackled around a spherical point in the sky about the size of a basketball, and rapidly shrinking. In a moment, they died and it was gone. A few officers approached the crater. "Ma'am!" he shouted.

Miss Militia led her captive, still targeted by multiple guns, over to the edge of the crater.

Everyone's eyes went wide. Taylor's breath caught in her throat.

In a crater ten feet deep, lay a teenager, possibly one and a half to two years older than Taylor, garbed in a blue bodysuit with red boots and cape, a strange stylized 'S' symbol on the breastplate, adorned in a shield shape. The whole suit sat marred with cuts, blood stains, and scorch marks. One of the boots had a whole through it. Dried blood sat on otherwise mostly undamaged skin. Taylor watched in awe as a burn mark on the neck of the girl vanished as the sun shone on the scene. None of that came close to being the most startling revelation.

Frizzled hair and no glasses, or not, the girl had the exact same face as Taylor herself, only a bit older. The mysterious doppelganger opened her eyes, and they were the same color. "What the…?" she spoke. The exact same voice escaped. She saw herself staring down from above, flanked by officers and Miss Militia. "Good grief." She then seemed to either fall asleep or pass out.

* * *

Superwoman regained consciousness. Her head felt twisted and murky, but after a moment, her eyes shot open and she felt reenergized. The sun had, after all, been shining down on her when she reappeared out of…whatever the hell Lex's device had done. Her senses drank in the setting, and she had the sneaking suspicion she wasn't on her Earth anymore. First, she was in a set of civilian clothes, a generic looking pair of thin pants and shoes with a thin shirt on, her costume lie on a chair near the bed with all kinds of damage to it. Standing in front of the bed she lie on, Miss Militia stood with a gun pointed at the head of _another_ Taylor Hebert, this one younger. The girl stood shackled at the wrists and feet, and Miss Militia's other gun, a Smith and Wesson Model 500, a huge hand cannon, pointed at Superwoman herself. A man suited in power armor she didn't quite recognize stood next to her, wielding a spear-like weapon. She exerted her see-through vision and saw the face, although his body had been modified. "Colin?" she said, blinking several times. "What the hell did you do to yourself?"

"Who the hell are you, and what's your connection to Skitter?" Miss Militia said.

Superwoman's eyebrows descended in confusion. "What the hell is a 'Skitter?'" she asked, incredulous. "And why are you pointing a gun at me? Don't you know it won't work?"

"I've never met this person before," the _other_ Taylor said, her voice almost identical to Superwoman's. In fact, if she didn't have super hearing, she couldn't have told any difference at all.

In a moment, a gruff-looking man came in, and next to him stood Alexandria. "This is one hell of a pickle," the man said. "We had our hands full enough with one of you people."

"Who are _you_," Superwoman said, identifying him as a ranking member of the P.R.T. somehow. But this wasn't right, where was Emily Piggot? "And where's Piggot?"

"I'm Director Tagg of this branch of the P.R.T.," James Tagg introduced, "and she's been replaced."

"I believe _you_ need to answer some questions," Alexandria said. "There's more than enough firepower in this room to keep you or your doppelganger here from doing anything. So what are you? Clone? Experiment? Sister we didn't know about?"

Yes, this wasn't her Earth, Superwoman knew. Their distrust of her meant that they distrusted her younger counterpart, and that was a terrible sign. What had transpired? "My name is Taylor Anne Hebert," she explained, "although I'm guessing you knew that. My hero handle is Superwoman. Before I arrived here, I led a successful final battle against Scion. We'd already defeated the Endbringers. It cost us hundreds of millions of lives, across several continents, but ultimately, we defeated him with far less death than we expected." Alexandria and the others exchanged glances, which weren't lost on her. "An old enemy of mine, affected by the Simurgh, managed to take advantage of the revelry and activate a suicide device of some kind, which ripped a hole in space and dropped me here."

"Pardon me if I don't believe you," James Tagg said, folding his arms.

"Let me tell you what _our_ Taylor Hebert is guilty of," Alexandria said. She then proceeded to rattle off a toilet paper roll of offenses. Superwoman began to get visibly sick. "So, now you can see why we're taking such precautions."

"Hold on a minute," Miss Militia said, "just a minute ago you said guns wouldn't work on you. Why not?"

"In the interest of full transparency," Superwoman said, "I'll just give you my list of powers." They each reacted differently to the use of the word "list" in her sentence. "I can fly, I'm nearly indestructible, I'm super strong, can hear incredibly quiet sounds, can see microscopic objects or impossibly far distances with greater than twenty/twenty clarity, can emit a solid-state heat laser from my eyes, can see through solid objects other than lead, and can exhale incredibly cold bursts of air or hurricane force winds."

Now it was their turn to look ill in the face. "Is _that_ all?" Clockblocker piped in from a seat behind the adults.

"Oh!" Superwoman said, realizing. "I'm also super-fast."

"So, an Alexandria package with extra powers," Kid Win said, straining to see around the adults.

"How are we supposed to just _trust_ that you are a hero like you say you are?" Defiant said, breaking the moment's silence.

"Armsmaster," Superwoman began.

"It's Defiant, now," Colin corrected.

"Okay," she corrected, "_Defiant_, at my current speed, you could drop your spear from shoulder height, and in the time it would take it to hit the ground, I could murder everyone on the east coast." She pulled her right arm, and the thick titanium shackle ripped the metal arm clean off the bed. She pushed her opposing hand while pulling the shackled one, and yanked it clean out of the bonds. "It's not like you could hold me if I wanted out. Here I am, sitting and having a conversation with you."

"I'm sorry, but that's not good enough," Alexandria said. "Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to bring in the Undersiders and _you_ are not going to stop me."

"You lying sack of…!" Taylor said, squirming, despite being shackled, and guns pointed at her from a dozen different directions. They poked her in the head with the guns, and she went still. "You're just going to kill them! I know what you lying bastards do!"

Seeing her younger, other self in mental pain bothered Superwoman, and she looked around, using her vision powers to scan the building, locating the shackles and the holding cells. "Excuse me a moment," she said. She disappeared. No one in the room even saw movement. A few seconds later, she reappeared, standing, arms folded, across from Tagg. "Alright, problem solved."

Alexandria cocked her head. "What did you do?" she asked.

"The Undersiders are in custody," Superwoman said, "safe, in holding cells, no injuries, no deaths, no big deal. They never even saw it coming."

"Why didn't you let me?" the older woman said, a single half-laugh escaping her mouth.

"I don't trust you," she said, pointing to her younger self. "Because she doesn't trust you. And if there's one person I trust, it's _me_. Even if the _me_ that's here is a villain." She stepped forward, back straight and chest out as she looked up at the powerful hero. "And _I _over here am saying that no one dies."

"All right," Alexandria said, "we get the point. No one dies." She motioned to one of the officers, who brought up the live video feed of the holding cells, showing that, in fact, they were in custody and relatively startled by their sudden arrival in a new location, and that location being a cell.

"Hey!" Taylor shouted to her older counterpart. "You've given them everything they wanted! You just fucked me!"

Superwoman simply put a silencing hand up in the direction of her younger self. She didn't take her eyes off Tagg and Alexandria. "I've given you everything I can do to prove to you in this moment that I'm not a villain," she said. "I've given you everything you wanted, as has been pointed out. In exchange for that, you need to humor me, and listen to my younger self over there. She clearly has something in mind."

"What do _you_ want?" Tagg interrupted.

Superwoman gave out a single, quiet chuckle. "I've been sent to another Earth," she explained, "one which hasn't seen Scion attack, one that hasn't seen the defeat of the Slaughterhouse Nine and hasn't had the unity and cooperation I saw on my Earth. What _I want_ is to correct those problems."

"What specifically was your plan, anyway?" Miss Militia asked the younger Taylor.

"I was going to demand that you make a truce with the Undersiders so we could police the city's underworld," she explained, ignoring the guns pointed at her, "so that the P.R.T. could focus on the bigger problems, but that's all moot now."

"That wasn't going to be accepted anyway," Tagg replied, scoffing at the idea.

"The point is," Superwoman stated, "we need to have a plan to prevent a power struggle within this city. These criminal organizations aren't working, and we need to clean this place up. That's what I did on my Earth. I worked with the P.R.T. and we cooperated to bring down these groups and the ABB and Empire were both gone inside of three months."

"That's impressive," Miss Militia said.

"Can I get a lawyer and stop being held at gunpoint?" Younger Taylor said.

They looked at her and realized she had a point. They marched her to an interrogation room and had at least four heroes and a group of armed officers watching her. Tagg and Alexandria stood outside with Superwoman, talking. "Since you haven't committed a crime," Tagg said, "and there's nothing we can really do to stop you if you went rogue, and you're still talking, we can talk."

"Makes sense," the older Taylor said.

"Tell us more about the circumstances that led up to the battle with Scion," Alexandria said.

"A concerted effort by the P.R.T. as well as myself had brought down the Slaughterhouse Nine, in almost their entirety," she explained to the older woman. "We fought like hell. They had allies and monsters they'd created, and everything. Somehow, though, Jack still got through to Scion. He convinced him that his purpose should be to destroy, and that's what did it."

"So," Alexandria said, "we need to take Jack out of the picture _first_."

"Absolutely," Superwoman said.

"Tell me, how is it possible for you to have gotten so many powers?" Tagg asked.

"I've got alien DNA," Taylor replied.

"What." They both said, almost in unison.

"On my Earth," Taylor explained, "there was a distant planet called Krypton. Apparently, they'd foreseen the end of their world, and a bunch of escape ships escaped into the void, going in various directions. One of them headed to Earth, only, it ran into trouble. Everyone onboard was already dead by the time it arrived." She took a breath and let it out. "My mother, Annette, was part of the crew of scientists and tinkers sent to salvage the ship for parts. They found a device called a 'birthing matrix' that Kryptonians used to artificially give birth to young, and it combined my father Danny's DNA with hers, made some Kryptonian adjustments, and sometime later, here I am, powers and all."

They took several long minutes to digest what had just been explained. Tagg took the opportunity to head into the room to interact with Skitter as well as to brief Defiant and Miss Militia on the conversation outside the room. Superwoman followed.

"I scarcely think you realize how much trouble you're in," Tagg said, after Defiant briefed him on the state of their conversation prior to his entrance. "However, we've thought about this a bit, and we're probably going to have to radically change our approach to you, because the arrival of someone like your older self, well, it complicates things."

Quinn Calle leaned in and whispered something to his client, and she whispered something in return. "What I'm trying to accomplish," younger Taylor said, "is to prevent the end of the world. I've seen firsthand how the P.R.T. utterly fails at a lot of things, and how its priorities are all fucked up, and I can't believe how inefficient it is. I want to improve that."

"By taking over a city," Defiant cut in.

"By solving a lot of the problems your organization fucking failed at," she corrected. "Where were you while the city sat in ruins, with people unable to feed themselves or their children, and unable to keep themselves safe?"

"Oh, really?" Tagg replied. "Safe as in, a band of criminals keep certain people 'safe' by imposing their will over a large swath of people?" It was at this point that Superwoman came in and sat in between the two groups at the table. "At least your counterpart was willing to put an end to the problem."

"Hold on," Superwoman said, interrupting. "You're talking about me as if I am an employee or potential employee of yours or this organization's." She placed her hands together on the table. "I'm not, and I'll never be. Just because I'm not your enemy—and I'm willing to be a helpful ally—doesn't mean you will control me."

"As far as we're concerned, you didn't exist prior to a short while ago," Tagg cut in. "So, here you are, sporting some amazing powers, flashy as hell, I'll admit, and you expect us to believe you are some world-renowned hero? I like your actions so far, bringing those thugs in, but I'm still not sold on you."

"You're right," she replied, standing up and walking around to around back of the table where her younger self sat. "And my only take on the matter is what I've been told in the few hours I've been here." She closed her eyes and shook her head a moment. "But here's what I can tell. In my world, when I got serious at heroics, one of the first things I did was get people to stop focusing on bullshit politics and get organized crime out of the city."

"It's not that simple," Tagg said. "We have big picture problems…"

"You created a situation where a gang of youth criminals did a better job of protecting the city than the government," she retorted. "That indicates a failure of the system itself."

"What would you have us do," Alexandria asked, a hint of righteous indignation in her voice, "disband the P.R.T.?"

Superwoman reacted as if tased. "No, certainly not," she said. "I think the P.R.T. is one of the most important things around. I've seen what it _could_ be, and I want you to see that."

"I don't think _you_ understand," Tagg said. "The only way we survive these fights with the Endbringers is if we have a plethora of people showing up to fight. And we can't have that if one side has too much power."

Superwoman and her younger counterpart exchanged a glance. "Are you stupid or something?" Younger Taylor said. "Don't you see how this situation is deteriorating?"

"The Endbringers are holding back," Superwoman said, cutting everyone off.

The pause that lingered over the room held everyone in a stunned silence. Skitter wasn't surprised, so much as dismayed, but the genuine look of shock in the faces of the Protectorate heroes and Wards gave Superwoman a look of disappointed fear. After a long minute, Alexandria folded her arms. "You're trying to scare us into making concessions."

Superwoman shook her head, a dismayed laugh escaping her mouth. "No," she said. "I've fought them. Behemoth, Leviathan, and the Simurgh? I've fought them." She sat down and leaned back for effect. "I've seen them go all-out. It isn't pretty."

"We were worried this might be true," Miss Militia said, chiming in, as Tagg looked like he was trying to stare the table into submission. "But we thought, as bad as it is, it can't get worse."

"Why in the hell would you think that?" Skitter shot back.

"Now that I have your attention," Superwoman said, taking on a stern parent's voice, "I want you to do an exercise for me. Imagine how different things could be. Imagine if you didn't work towards some pointless horse crap balance that only got the innocent people killed and prevented real progress."

Alexandria and Tagg exchanged a glance. "You're not going to get what you want, Skitter," Tagg said, turning to the younger of the two. "But, circumstances prevail, and I think we need to have a serious discussion and put our egos aside." He looked at Superwoman for the statement. "ALL of us."

"If you're expecting to get complete amnesty for past crimes," Alexandria said to Skitter, "that's not going to happen."

"What is going to happen?" Skitter said.

"What should happen is involving them in this discussion," the older Taylor said.

"Are you crazy?" Tagg said.

"No, she's not," Skitter said, realizing. "What you want is a victory. You want to show the world that the P.R.T. can absolutely protect them. The only way you're going to do that is if the city doesn't turn into a big disaster."

"How do we stop that from happening, pray tell?" Alexandria said.

"They're opposed to you guys," Skitter explained. "Wouldn't it be better if we worked together in some capacity?"

"Work together?" Tagg scoffed. "With criminals such as yourselves?"

"Why not?" Superwoman interjected. "You've done it before."

Alexandria started as if shot. "Don't you dare!" she said, a deadly serious look on her face.

"I'm just saying," the older teenager replied, shrugging. "It doesn't have to be official."

"Damn it," Tagg said, "this isn't going to help!"

"The world knows about Cauldron," Skitter said. "That happened during one of the worst times. I think if we put ourselves into a position where the world thinks we've moved on from that, things will get better. We can make things get better."

"You're acting as if the P.R.T. is innocent and the Undersiders are somehow responsible for your bad image alone," Superwoman said.

Alexandria looked at the older of the two teens. "Oh, so I'm miss bad guy because of Cauldron?" she said. "You're over here, acting as if you've never done anything wrong?"

Superwoman chewed the thoughts over, thought about the accusation of vanity and arrogance fired off at her. "You know," she explained, a waver in her voice. "I used to act like you." She stared at Alexandria, not breaking eye contact. "I used to be just like you." She steeled herself as best she could. "When I was a new cape, I felt invincible. I felt like nothing could stop me. The first time I fought the Slaughterhouse Nine, I grandstanded. I showed off. I wanted the people to see what I could do. You know, demystify these larger than life villains. Sounds like a great plan, right?" She stood up, leaning on the table. "If I had just put my damn ego aside for five goddamn seconds, my best friend wouldn't be dead." Alexandria looked ready to say something but thought better of it. "Not a minute goes by that I don't remember that I could've gotten there in time. I could have. I have to live with that for the rest of my life." She collapsed back into her seat. It took a long few seconds to catch her breath. She wiped one eye with the back of her right hand. "The press, my friends, everyone was saying how much of a hero I was, I saved tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of lives." She blinked away moisture. "But I knew I could have saved her in addition. I never had the courage to look her father in the eye, to tell her how sorry I was." She had to catch her breath again. "So don't you dare tell me I'm acting as if I've never done anything wrong."

The room went deadly quiet again. A long several moments hung in the air. The look on Superwoman's face could turn one's blood cold. "I'm sorry if I touched a nerve," Alexandria said. She didn't need some fancy device like Defiant had, she could see the truth in this girl's eyes. No, she saw. Despite the age, this wasn't a girl—she had the right to be called a woman. "I just assumed…"

"Don't assume," Superwoman said. "Just take the advice I'm telling you, stop trying to win and start trying to be everything that's needed for everyone."

Tagg knew a shift in the game if he ever saw one. "I'll tell you what, you two," he said. "If you can convince the rest of the Undersiders NOT to try and make some ploy to escape or turn this completely in their favor, but to actually sit down here and talk to us, I'll listen. We'll listen."

Skitter blinked. "I'll…" She had to compose herself. This bit of compromise caught her off guard. "I'll try."

The two stood up and left the room. Alexandria followed them, staying within easy attacking distance. Skitter looked at her slightly older self. "Hey, um," she uttered, stumbling over words, "thank you for your help. I honestly thought, at first, that you were a goody-two-shoes."

"Not a problem," the older Taylor said. "I don't condone what you've done, obviously, but I think you still have the potential to do a lot of good. Otherwise, I'd have simply taken you down."

"I'm sorry about your friend," Skitter said.

"And I'm sorry to hear what Emma and the other girls did to you," Superwoman replied. "It breaks my heart, and I'm not just being dramatic."

"You said you defeated Scion by working together," Skitter said. "How did you get everyone to participate?"

"This is going to sound like nonsense," Superwoman said, "but I'm not lying. We stopped as much of the infighting as we could early on enough that the attitude slowly came around that fighting enemies together was better than fighting them alone. After a while, the inner conflict started to taper off." She clenched her fists. "We had to show people that, no, staying all to yourself wasn't acceptable."

"So," Skitter noted, "you kind of shamed them into participating?"

"In a really complicated way with a crap load of steps more than that," Superwoman answered, thinking about it, "yes."

"I don't think anyone's ever gotten that to work here," Skitter said. She thought about the back and forth with the P.R.T. in the room. "Man, you really turned the conversation in our favor there!"

"I've been in a lot of these situations," Superwoman explained, "and I've tried to be clever and manipulative." She gave a single chuckle. "And I kind of _suck at it_." Skitter laughed a moment as well. "I just tell as much of the truth as I should. It often takes people completely off-guard."

_Wow,_ Skitter thought. _She's…different, I'll say that much._ "I've found telling the truth in my life to be the thing that happened right before disaster."

"Maybe you've been in survival mode so long you haven't thought of it," Superwoman said. "I mean, you've been through a hell of a lot, and I haven't heard all of it yet."

_And maybe you won't_, Skitter thought. "Yeah," she simply said.

A P.R.T. officer saw Alexandria walking slightly behind the two teens, and she waved, which told the officer to let them in. The officer stepped aside, and radioed, and the cameras in the room readjusted themselves in order to get the best possible view of the situation. Alexandria followed them in. Each of the Undersiders reacted differently, but they all stood up and got to attention at once.

"Skitter, what…?" Grue said, taking notice of the second one.

"Calm down, everybody," Skitter said, doing her best to ease the situation. "We've managed to get you all a seat at the table."

"Who in the fuck are you?" Bitch asked, seeing the older Taylor standing, hands on hips, taking in the sight in front of her.

"I'm her from another Earth," Superwoman said, pointing. "By the way, I know you guys had a whole lot of stuff planned, probably mercenaries and what not who are pissed at you right now, but thanks to me bringing you in, you're going to be involved in the discussion."

"Everyone," Alexandria said, "no funny business. You know who I am, you know what I can do, you don't want that. I don't want that. These two bozos think you have some kind of use to the plans for the future, so I'm humoring them. Capish?"

"Understood," Tattletale said, her middle finger extended behind her back.

The officer, hand on his pistol at his side, opened the cells one by one, and the Undersiders each gave him a look and followed their former member and her doppelganger up the hallway and into the briefing room. Extra security came in, mostly in the form of armed officers and a few capes from the nearest city having flown in.

"We're holding up our end of the bargain," Tagg said, as everyone got settled in their seats. "We've allowed these…people…at the table of discussion." He gestured forward. "What ideas do you have?"

"First," Tattletale said, "bring us up to speed on what was discussed so far." The next eight to ten minutes were spent doing just that. Even to a thinker like Tattletale, it seemed a humongous among of information to digest at once. The fact that other Earths existed, she knew that already. What she wasn't expecting was a Taylor from another dimension who also had alien DNA because she was born in a birthing pod made by aliens. Add to that, they had just fought _Scion_, who had gone off the deep end and started massacring large groups of people at once. She did her best to catch up, mentally speaking. "Wow, uh, okay." She wiped her face with her hands. "I realize that giving us amnesty isn't going to happen." She gestured at Alexandria and Tagg. "Give and take, if you will."

"So, you're not just a naïve child," Alexandria replied. "You're willing to cooperate."

Tattletale looked at her compatriots as she formed her next thoughts. "I think that both Taylors hit the nail on the head," she explained. "You can punish us _later_, but first, we have to clean up the city. I think we can use our knowledge of the criminal underworld and get into places where your organization can't, and it'll allow us to give you the information and the inside access needed to bring down the remnants of the former Empire 88 and the other gangs and organized criminal elements, and prevent these other organizations from getting a massive foothold into the vacuum likely to form in their absence, and then you can 'punish' us for our crimes, which makes you look fantastic…"

"While, in secret," Taylor finished, "they still work in secret to keep the city clean while you look great in the press. The P.R.T. gets to flaunt its retaking of a city, the people get to see messes cleaned up and safety return, and they get to get back to work."

Tagg scoffed audibly. "You're telling me _you people_ would turn over a new leaf?" he said. "This doesn't sound any different than what you were proposing earlier!"

"Oh, hell no," Grue cut in. "But what we _would_ do is stop being obvious about it, no one on the surface would see criminals running a city. You get clean streets, we keep a cut of the proceeds from all the drug lords and traffickers we fuck with, and you get to collect illicit money and good word from the people."

Tattletale nodded, happy to see her friends were still firing on the same cylinders. "We get to work under-side, like our name sake, and keep making money," she explained.

Alexandria scoffed this time. "How would we trust you?" she asked.

"We were prepared to go to war with the P.R.T.," Tattletale explained, "and now I find out you were willing to bring _Alexandria_ into the fold. Not against the former Empire, not against the former ABB, but against us in a turf war. You guys are fucked. I mean, honest to god, your priorities are fucked. So, if we can work together to un-fuck the situation, everyone comes out on top." She grinned. "And besides, most of us Undersiders entered this game of hero and villain to tweak the noses of the authority for acting all big-shot, and knowing that we have to work together or else we can fuck you royally is a great example of that."

"You must be out of your mind to think we're going to let you walk out of here," Tagg said. "How would we explain it?"

"You're not going to let them out," Superwoman said. "They're going to 'escape.' In other words, you're going to stage an escape so they can appear to have gotten away."

An actual laugh escaped Tagg. "That's comedy gold," he said. "Why would that benefit us?"

"Because," Tattletale explained, the thoughts coming to her in chunks. "That way, the other groups will make a power play to take the city from us believing we're vulnerable, and you'll use that opportunity to make a whole lot of moves towards your goal. You'll arrest both us and the ones that show up, and we'll conveniently 'escape' from your custody again."

"No," Taylor said. "You'll go to jail, but not you."

Tattletale took a moment, but then it hit her. "That's even better," she said. "The us that gets sent to the birdcage will be staged. That way, we can go back in and continue to work undercover."

"You are some devious…people," Defiant said, requiring effort to keep his language PG.

"Given a choice between this and just continuing to be crime lords running a city," Tattletale explained, "I'd rather just go back to business as usual. But that isn't going to happen. So, I want to keep making money. And, I take it, so do you. Don't worry, you'll get your cut and we'll take care of the laundering ourselves so as not to let any of the stink float back to you."

"I can't believe I'm even considering this," Tagg said, shaking his head. "And you!" he looked at Superwoman. "How are you ok with this?"

"I'm not," Superwoman said. "But I'm going to be watching them like you are."

"You aren't considering this, Tagg," Skitter corrected. "You're going to take the fall and retire. Miss Militia will take your place and pretend that she's putting a stop to this. Your reputation will be damaged, but it'll take popular eyes off the P.R.T. and its objectives and onto you. No one will pay attention to the goings-on under the hood."

"Preposterous!" Tagg shouted.

"No," Defiant said, after a short pause, "I'm sorry to say it isn't."

All eyes looked at him. Some, including Miss Militia had expressions of utter bewilderment. "Defiant, have you gone completely insane?" Alexandria asked.

"I don't like this idea at all," Defiant corrected. "In fact, I hate it." He leaned against the wall with arms folded. "But, honestly, what were we going to do? What was our plan going forward? Just keep chugging along, as if the tracks ahead weren't ripped up?"

"You want a crime organization working with us?" Alexandria retorted.

"I'd rather have a single group of relatively low-key criminals keeping pimps, traffickers, and dope fiends pushing crack to kids off the streets," he replied, "than just go back to business as usual. Leviathan ripped up our city, and I screwed up trying to fight him. That was a mistake I have to live down, and I believe it showed me how screwed up our situation is."

"You'd be running protection rackets unopposed," Miss Militia said.

"We wouldn't need to," Tattletale said.

"Tell me how this is any better than full-on amnesty," Alexandria said. "Because it sounds like you're not giving anything up at all."

"What we're giving up," Grue cut in, "is the ability to run free and do what we want. We're going to be stuck giving you dickheads all the information we gather. Furthermore, you fuckheads will no where we are and what we're doing, and if we screw up, you'll be able to get us much easier than we'd like. We're actually giving up a whole hell of a lot."

"We're practically getting a fucking job," Imp said.

"Holy Jesus," Tagg said. "You honestly expect me to believe you'd be willing to just do all of this, then?"

Tattletale and Skitter shared a look that lasted a whole ten seconds. "You see," Tattletale said, "we care about and support each other…"

"More than we hate you," Skitter finished. "We're willing to put up with shit if it means knowing each other are safe."

"And besides," Tattletale said. "Wouldn't it be better to have a head in the underworld of Brockton Bay?"

"Christ," Regent said, "haven't Tattletale and Skitter covered all of your bases? It sounds like you'll come out of this smelling like roses."

That's what scared them, Tattletale knew. "Let me just say this," she explained. "The alternative is that you fight us here and now, send us to the birdcage, and what follows is a power vacuum and a turf war that makes what we've done in the city look like a goddamn picnic in springtime."

"Let's say we accept your revised terms," Tagg said, "even if we don't see them as much of a concession." He paused. "Here's our terms. We want to have control over the entire situation. We want to make sure you aren't going outside certain bounds. That means, no protection racketeering, no prostitution, none of this other crap. We want peace and for the people to have their feeling of control. Most of all, we want you punished. Now how do you propose that works with your plan?"

Tattletale gestured, and the Undersiders, minus Taylor, scooted closer together and started whispering to each other. After a good minute, they returned to their seats. "I think," Tattletale explained, "the best thing to do would be to stage an arrest and set it up like we escaped. That way, you don't have to look bad in front of the camera. It's not like we escaped from your headquarters, we escaped from a transport."

Alexandria, Tagg, and Miss Militia seemed to mull it over. "What about you?" Tagg asked, looking at Superwoman.

"What about me?" she scoffed. "Don't look at me. You're not going to say thing one about me until after this whole event blows over. Make up some stuff about being a distant relative of the Heberts, since, you know, technically, I am. Nothing will be said officially about my powers until after this Undersiders business is over. I can be a mystery until then. But I'll be making sure they don't cross a line, like I said."

Tagg leaned his head back in his chair. He hated this idea. He hated these people. He hated that their idea made sense. Most of all, he hated the fact that he knew, despite his coworkers hating all these things as much as he did, they weren't going to overlook an opportunity like this. "This is the worst idea in a long time," he said, hoping to at least try to salvage his control over the situation.

Alexandria probably would have told the Undersiders to take their plan and shove it, were it not for the extenuating circumstances at play. Unfortunately, despite this new Taylor showing some good will, she was a wild card, after all. Her power had been demonstrated, and that alone had worked a long way towards getting the Undersiders in the room. Tattletale and Skitter's plan had, after all, looked great on paper. She knew the bunch of terrorists were going to try and fuck the P.R.T. as soon as they could, but she knew if she could play her cards right, she could get some safety nets in place to minimize the possibility. War averted, after all, gave more opportunity to set things up in her favor. Not only that, she realized, but once things got going, the Undersiders betraying the P.R.T. backfired on them as much as it backfired on the P.R.T., and those were things Cauldron could factor into their plan.

She could accept their plan, after all, she decided. She had more resources at her disposal than they realized, and the P.R.T. was a means to an end, not an end in and of itself.

"You know what, Undersiders?" she told them. "We'll have to have a vote on it, but I believe we can make this plan work between us."

Tagg jerked his head over as if he'd been shot. "What? How could…!" he shouted.

"No," Alexandria cut in, stopping him. "I don't like it any more than you do. But we can make this work. We can twist things in our favor. This is a game of chess, not a battle. It's preferable to open combat." She looked at him.

"Unless you're willing to sacrifice civilians for good press," Tattletale said.

"This is going to blow up in your faces!" Tagg shouted, standing up.

"We're the ones willing to cooperate," Tattletale explained.

"We have a deal," Alexandria said, leaning over. She shook Skitter's hand first, then Tattletale.

"Let the games begin," Tattletale said.

* * *

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